Voters Speak: Cuomo Interfered With His Corruption Panel

A new Siena poll of likely voters shows that by a clear 2 to 1 margin, likely voters in New York’s gubernatorial race believe Governor Cuomo interfered in the Moreland Commission’s work to rid the state of corruption.

Most New Yorkers don’t know much about Gov. Cuomo’s corruption-fighting Moreland Commission — but nearly twice as many believe newspaper reports that he and his office tampered with it than say they were just providing information, a poll released Monday finds.

“Despite the political swirl, Cuomo continues to lead Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino by 32 points, down a little from 37 points three weeks ago,” shows the new Siena Poll of likely gubernatorial voters.

Cuomo created the Moreland Commission last summer to investigation political corruption in Albany, particularly with regard to the influence of campaign donors and lobbyists.

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Still, “When given a choice, by a two-to-one margin, or 49 to 25%, voters say they believe newspaper reports that the governor and his office interfered with the Moreland Commission’s work, rather than believing the governor’s explanation that they were appropriately providing information to the commission,” Greenberg said.

Astorino’s minor uptick in the midst of such a large scandal for his opponent seems to be that voters apparently don’t care that Cuomo interfered with the ethics probe once it started investigating people with close ties to his office. Last week’s poll showed that 71% of New Yorkers find the Moreland scandal to be of little or no factor in their decision making process.

Rather than lending aide to his campaign and capitalizing off the political scandal, Chris Christie and the Republican Governor’s Association have been actively searching for a way to avoid helping out a fellow Republican.

Fortunately, there is help on the way. With Christie and the RGA still actively looking for a set, a new GOP group is banding together to target the scandal-plagued Cuomo administration and help fund the campaign of Republican Rob Astorino.

The group, Rescue New York, Inc., has filed paperwork with the Board of Elections. Rescue New York’s treasurer has significant ties with some of the nation’s most prominent Republicans.

The question is, do enough New Yorkers care about corruption in their government, or will knowledge finally become a factor in the upcoming elections?

Cuomo’s underwater job performance rating may suggest a glimmer of hope. As the Daily News reports, “his job performance rating stands at a negative 44-55%, down from 50-49%.”

About the AuthorRusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss is a freelance journalist focusing on the conservative movement and its political agenda. He has been writing conservatively charged articles for several years in the upstate New York area, and his writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, American Thinker, FoxNews.com, Big Government, the Times Union, and the Troy Record. He is also Editor of one of the top conservative blogs of 2012, the Mental Recession.

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